After My Dead Ending

Why is he suddenly like that? I was so embarrassed that I shouted urgently.

“You can’t kill me! I have what’s left of Ophelia’s powers! You want them to disappear too? If I die, Ophelia’s powers disappear too!”

Of course, it’s a lie. When I die, Ophelia’s powers will go back to their original master, who is alive and well.

“No. If you die, Aisa. If you die, Ophelia will come back. I can tell. My god says so. “

But this time the lies didn’t work at all. Nyx said, pointing into the air. The corners of his mouth were full as he was convinced.

I don’t know if Nyx has that kind of power, but I’m pretty sure he’s already decided to kill me.

‘No.’

I must have lost my strength when Nyx came closer because I couldn’t move my arms or legs like a strapped doll.

Even if I wanted to use Ophelia’s power, it didn’t work out as I wanted. Chased by anxiety, the holy power dissipated as soon as it found a hole. It was like lighting a wet match.

‘No, no, no, no. No way.’

“Die, Aisa. If you die, my Ophelia will come back. I can tell. You like Ophelia, too.”

Nyx grinned and rose to his feet.

“Get out of here! You disgusting bastard!”

I screamed in disgust, trying to use Ophelia’s power, but it kept dissipating in my stomach.

“It’s no use. You’re a fake. You don’t even have half of Ophelia’s power. You’re leaking it out for nothing. You can’t even use it properly to save your life.”

Nyx’s dilated pupils pierced me, and I guess I wasn’t half as good as Ophelia.

“It’s not yours and you can’t handle it to your heart’s content. You thieving bitch!”

Nyx began to stumble toward me, like a drugged man.

“Ophelia’s holy power, her power! That’s not how it’s used.”

“I…, I… I don’t want to die.”

“You won’t have it.”

“… Why do I have to die? Why do I have to die? It’s because of you, you bastard. Why did you do this to me? No! I’m going to live!”

I screamed like crazy. Blood rushed to my face in an instant.

“Aaaah! Don’t come, get out! I don’t want to die! Why do I have to die!”

Nyx raised his hand regardless of whether I screamed like I was going to faint, and dozens of black hands rose in unison behind it.

‘No.’

It was just like that day.

‘I don’t want to die.’

“Die, Aisa.”

“I don’t want to die!”

I turned my head away because I no longer wanted to see the black hands reaching out toward me.

Why the hell was this happening to me? I wanted all this to be a dream. I wanted to wake up. I wish someone would wake me up.

I squeezed my eyes shut as I thought about it, and something big wrapped gently around one side of my face.

It was warm.

I opened my eyes reflexively, and I met bright yellow eyes. Or rather, they were more like shiny gold than yellow.

I was instantly captivated by those eyes. Even the gold bars couldn’t be more golden than them.

Before long, I opened my mouth as if possessed.

“… Norma.”

Thump-

At the same time, clear drops of water fell from Norma’s face.

***
[T/N: From this point, it’s Norma’s POV mixed with past and present]

“Die, Norma, die. Please die.”

In a desperate voice, Igor begged me to die.

Igor was trembling all over, and he was holding the boy tightly against his chest.

‘Nicholas.’

I saw Nicholas, held by Igor, with a blade against his throat.

Blood was already dripping from Nicholas’s pale neck. Young Nicholas was terrified.

Just as Igor was like a brother to Norma, Igor was also like a brother to Nicholas. It would be confusing for such a person to suddenly point a knife to my neck and use me as a hostage to kill my own brother.

‘It’ll leave Nicholas with an indelible scar because I’m not good enough.’

Igor urged Norma to stand in the middle of a huge ceremony, which he had never seen before, but which he knew was written in a forbidden language, paganism.

Norma, a paladin, could easily recognize that it was one of the curses sealed deep within the Great Shrine.

Moving willingly into the middle, Norma kept his eyes on Nicholas.

Norma closed his eyes for a moment in the middle of a circle full of tricks, because he couldn’t believe it, and blinking didn’t make it go away.

Igor and I were like brothers, we didn’t share blood, but he was family to me.

Was the special thing my own? Now Norma couldn’t tell.

There was a trace of the curse around him, and this was the result of someone inciting hatred in him.

“Your presence always makes me miserable. I never thought of you as a friend or family. Norma, I have visualized you dying every day. “

Norma had no idea that Igor harbored such deep-seated malice toward him, shameful and indifferent, and the guilt of thinking that Igor’s anger, his betrayal, was all his fault.

I was both angry and sad. At the same time, facing a shady, sticky flesh, Norma was shocked.

There were no ups and downs in Norma’s life. A man who was born with everything was Norma Diazi.

He was the eldest son of the Diazi family and the heir. The Diazi family had a great history being part of the aristocracy as a family representing the success of the founding.

It was also the Diazi family who was following the very old imperial etiquette that even the imperial family forgot. No matter how big the Imperial family was, they could not treat the Diaz family carelessly.

The Diazi family was the closest to the temple, and its immediate line had been born with strong holy power for generations. Them being the closest was thanks to Diazi’s first head of the household.

There was a legend that the first Diazi was the lover of the god of the land. As if to prove this, Diazi’s immediate family was always born with strong holy power.

It was said that Diazi, the lover of God, was the most beautiful person on the continent. As his descendants, Diazi’s direct line was born with beauty.

Also, during the empire’s 500-year history, the Diazis never starved. This is because the city has the largest salt mine on the continent and is a producer of luxury goods. The wealth allowed them to maintain independent power.

Holy powers, strength, and appearance, a family of a perfect bloodline. It could be said that all blessings were given at birth.

On top of that, with his gentle personality, Norma Diazi has only met people who are favorable to him, regardless of age or gender, in his life.

No idiot in this empire dared to run his mouth or make a mistake in front of Norma, even if they said something behind his back, and to his shame, Norma was not immune to someone’s blatant murder against him.

Norma Diazi, who was called a perfect human being, had a rather difficult time getting people to treat him normally. Igor was the only one.

The betrayal of Igor, the only person he could open up to, was a shock and painful sadness for Norma.

“Norma Diazi. I hated you from the moment I first saw you.”

Norma didn’t think of himself as such a naive person who believed in others, but at once he felt like an ignorant idiot at the betrayal of a friend who had been like a brother.

“Joe, the Norma of Diazi, will die, even your soul will be chopped in small pieces.”

Igor cursed Norma.

If you are an imperial citizen, you have a ‘last name’ regardless of being an orphan. The last name, a God-given name, was only allowed to have close blood ties with their parents. Norma’s last name was Joe.

The curse was cast through the complete name of the subject, and to cast the old curse, it was necessary to know the last name given to him by God.

Norma gave Igor his last name a long time ago. Because he truly regarded him as a family member.

“Die, Norma.”

Those were his last words.

Everything began to fade black as if he was trapped in a black mist, and in the face of the deep-seated hatred, Norma slowly lowered his eyelids.

“Noma!”

Before he closed his eyes, he tried to open them again to the voice Nicholas was calling to him, but at the same time, there was a white glare that pierced the black mist.

This time, the view began to blur white. Soon a tremendous amount of energy poured into Norma. Norma could see that Nicholas had awakened his powers.

Just before Norma’s soul was shredded and scattered, Nicholas’s power seized his brother’s soul, but Norma’s soul still broke apart due to the curse.

As such, Norma fell into such a long sleep. His body was stolen by Nyx as a trophy.

Norma’s scattered soul began to fuse back together for a very long time after that, and when it finally came together again, Norma felt a rare sensation.

I felt a sense of floating all over the black space, I could not feel the weight of my body or anything else.

I just heard it.

“Die, Norma.”

“Please die. Without you!”

Igor’s curse had been repeated.

Norma’s soul was trapped at the moment Igor cursed him. It was not Nicholas’ intention, but it was a time of death for Norma. Maybe it was better when his soul had been scattered.

Die, die, die.

Die, die, die.

In the darkness where nothing could be seen, only the sound of Igor’s curse was constantly repeated. It was like brainwashing, and Norma came to the conviction that he had to die. It led Norma to a deeper swamp.

An unknown time had passed.

Norma felt his weight after a very long time.

“Ah.”

Norma sighed in admiration.

“… Look, Sir Diazi. Sir Diazi?”

Said someone nervously.

It sounded like someone was calling to him from a great distance, a voice he’d never heard before.

‘Who are you?’

Norma wanted to see who was calling him. But he could hardly open his eyes.

“Die, Norma.”

Igor’s curse followed as if he continued to sleep without waking up. Norma lost the will to wake up quickly. It was time to fall into a deep sleep again.

“Die―.”

“I don’t want to die!”

T/N: This was said by Aisa

A loud voice rang in my ear as if screaming into it. It felt like my eyes were opening up.

‘When did I hear this voice?’

Norma wandered through the scattered memories like a dream.

‘Oh, isn’t that the voice that called me earlier?’

You don’t want to die?

To not die, is that possible?

Don’t you have to die?

… Don’t I want to die?

He wanted to ask the voice’s owner. Norma didn’t know. It bothered him. He was a fool who had already ruined everything.

Finally, Norma opened his eyes.